Q1. How satisfied are you with our website?
Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Neutral
Somewhat dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied Q2. How did you learn of our website? Select all that apply.
Surfing the web
Media
Friend/colleague
Company materials
Employees
Other Q3. On your last visit, what was your primary reason for visiting our website?
Seeking company information
Seeking product information
Seeking contact information
Product purchase
To find calendar/schedule
Other Q4. How often do you visit our website?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Quarterly
Annually Q5. Which of the following are true? Select all that apply.
You were able to find exactly what you were looking for
You were able to find a part of what you were looking for
You were able to find something better than what you were looking for
You were not able to find what you were looking for
You had no specific agenda in mind when you visited Q6. Please rate the following attributes of our website.

Well Below Average

Below Average

Average

Above Average

Well Above Average

Ease of navigation

Accuracy of information

Quality of content

Quantity of content

Layout/design

Customer support

Meeting your needs

Q7. How likely are you to visit our website again?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Somewhat unlikely
Very unlikely Q8. How likely are you to use this site as your primary source for information?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Somewhat unlikely
Very unlikely Q9. How likely are you to recommend our website to a friend or colleague in the future?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Somewhat unlikely
Very unlikely Q10. On the basis of this website, how comfortable are you doing business with our company?
Very comfortable
Somewhat comfortable
Neutral
Somewhat comfortable
Very comfortable Q11. How does our website compare to the websites of companies offering similar products or services?
Well Below Average
Below Average
Average
Above Average
Well Above Average
Don't Know

Survey Questions and Answer Types
By: Kevin Battey
COO, QuestionPro
So you've decided that you need a better understanding of the characteristics of people who visit your website, or of some other business-related question. Developing a focused and effective questionnaire will help you to efficiently and accurately pinpoint the information that will help you make more informed decisions.

Developing a questionnaire is as much an art as it is a science. And just as an artist has a variety of different colors to choose from in the palette, you have a variety of different question formats with which to question an accurate picture of your customers, clients and issues that are important to them.

The Dichotomous Question
The dichotomous question is generally a "yes/no" question. An example of the dichotomous question is:

Have you ever purchased a product or service from our website?
Yes
No

If you want information only about product users, you may want to ask this type of question to "screen out" those who haven't purchased your products or services. Researchers use "screening" questions to make sure that only those people they are interested in participate in the survey.

You may also want to use yes/no questions to separate people or branch into groups of those who "have purchased" and those who "have not yet purchased" your products or services. Once separated, different questions can be asked of each of these groups.

You may want to ask the "have purchased" group how satisfied they are with your products and services, and you may want to ask the "have not purchased" group what the primary reasons are for not purchasing. In essence, your questionnaire branches to become two different sets of questions.

The Multiple Choice Questions
The multiple-choice question consists of three or more exhaustive, mutually exclusive categories. Multiple choice questions can ask for single or multiple answers. In the following example, we could ask the respondent to select exactly one answer from the 7 possible, exactly 3 of the 7, or as many as 3 of the 7 (1,2,or 3 answers can be selected).

Example: A multiple-choice question to find out how a person first heard about your website is:

How did you first hear about our web site?
Television
Radio
Newspaper
Magazine
Word-of-mouth
Internet
Other: Please Specify _______________

For this type of question it is important to consider including an "other" category because there may be other avenues by which the person first heard about your site that you might have overlooked.

Rank Order Scaling
Rank order scaling questions allow a certain set of brands or products to be ranked based upon a specific attribute or characteristic. Perhaps we know that Toyota, Honda, Mazda, and Ford are most likely to be purchased. You may request that the options be ranked based upon a particular attribute. Ties may or may not be allowed. If you allow ties, several options will have the same scores.

Example:

Based upon what you have seen, heard, and experienced, please rank the following brands according to their reliability. Place a "1" next to the brand that is most reliable, a "2" next to the brand that is next most reliable, and so on. Remember, no two cars can have the same ranking .
__ Honda
__ Toyota
__ Mazda
__ Ford

The Rating Scale
A rating scale question requires a person to rate a product or brand along a well-defined, evenly spaced continuum. Rating scales are often used to measure the direction and intensity of attitudes. The following is an example of a comparative rating scale question:

Which of the following categories best describes your last experience purchasing a product or service on our website? Would you say that your experience was:
Very pleasant
Somewhat pleasant
Neither pleasant nor unpleasant
Somewhat unpleasant
Very unpleasant

The Semantic Differential Scale
The semantic differential scale asks a person to rate a product, brand, or company based upon a seven-point rating scale that has two bi-polar adjectives at each end. The following is an example of a semantic differential scale question.

Notice that unlike the rating scale, the semantic differential scale does not have a neutral or middle selection. A person must choose, to a certain extent, one or the other adjective.

The Stapel Scale
The staple scale asks a person to rate a brand, product, or service according to a certain characteristic on a scale from +5 to -5, indicating how well the characteristic describes the product or service. The following is an example of a staple scale question:

When thinking about Data Mining Technologies, Inc. (DMT), do you believe that the word "innovative" aptly describes or poorly describes the company? On a scale of +5 to -5 with +5 being "very good description of DMT" and -5 being "poor description of DMT," how do you rank DMT according to the word "innovative"?
(+5) Describes very well
(+4)
(+3)
(+2)
(+1)
Innovative
(-1)
(-2)
(-3)
(-4)
(-5) Poorly Describes

The Constant Sum Question
A constant sum question permits collection of "ratio" data, meaning that the data is able to express the relative value or importance of the options (option A is twice as important as option B).

Example:
The following question asks you to divide 100 points between a set of options to show the value or importance you place on each option. Distribute the 100 points giving the more important reasons a greater number of points. The computer will prompt you if your total does not equal exactly 100 points.

When thinking about the reasons you purchased our TargetFind data mining software, please rate the following reasons according to their relative importance.
Seamless integration with other software __________
User friendliness of software __________
Ability to manipulate algorithms __________
Level of pre- and post-purchase service __________
Level of value for the price __________
Convenience of purchase/quick delivery __________
Total 100 points

This type of question is used when you are relatively sure of the reasons for purchase, or you want input on a limited number of reasons you feel are important. Questions must sum to 100 points and point totals are checked by javascript.

The Open-Ended Question
The open-ended question seeks to explore the qualitative, in-depth aspects of a particular topic or issue. It gives a person the chance to respond in detail. Although open-ended questions are important, they are time-consuming and should not be over-used. An example of an open-ended question might be:

(If the respondent indicates they did not find what they were looking for...)

What products of services were you looking for that were not found on our website?

If you want to add an "Other" answer to a multiple choice question, you would use branching instructions to come to an open ended question to find out What Other....

The Demographic Question
Demographic questions are an integral part of any questionnaire. They are used to identify characteristics such as age, gender, income, race, geographic place of residence, number of children, and so forth. For example demographic questions will help you to classify the difference between product users and non-users. Perhaps most of your customers come from the Northeast, are between the ages of 50 and 65, and have incomes between $50,000 and $75,000.

Demographic data helps you paint a more accurate picture of the group of persons you are trying to understand. And by better understanding the type of people who use or are likely to use your product, you can allocate promotional resources to reach these people, in a more cost effective manner.

Psycho-graphic or life style questions are also included in the template files. These questions provide an in-depth psychological profile and look at activities, interests and opinions of respondents.

Survey Design : Writing Great Questions for Online SurveysBy: Vivek Bhaskaran
CEO, QuestionPro
Writing great questions is an art that like all arts requires a great amount of work, practice, and help from others. The following discussion is one that identifies some of the common pitfalls in creating a great questionnaire.

Avoid loaded or leading words or questions
Slight wording changes can produce great differences in results. Could, Should, Might all sound almost the same, but may produce a 20% difference in agreement to a question (The supreme court could.. should.. might.. have forced the breakup of Microsoft Corporation). Strong words that represent control or action, such as prohibit produces similar results (Do you believe that congress should prohibit insurance companies from raising rates?) Sometimes wording is just biased: You wouldn't want to go to Rudolpho's Restaurant for the company's annual party would you?

Misplaced questions
Questions placed out of order or out of context should be avoided. In general, a funnel approach is advised. Broad and general questions at the beginning of the questionnaire as a warm-up. Then more specific questions, followed by more general easy to answer questions like demographics.

Mutually non-exclusive response categories
Multiple choice response categories should be mutually exclusive so that clear choices can be made. Non-exclusive answers frustrate the respondent and make interpretation difficult at best.

Nonspecific questions
Do you like orange juice? This is very unclear...do I like what? Taste, texture, nutritional content, Vitamin C, the current price, concentrate, fresh squeezed? Be specific in what you want to know about. Do you watch TV regularly? (what is regularly?).

Confusing or unfamiliar words
Asking about caloric content, bits, bytes, mbs, and other industry specific jargon and acronyms are confusing. Make sure your audience understands your language level, terminology and above all, what you are asking.

Non-directed questions give respondents excessive latitude
What suggestions do you have for improving tomato juice? The question is about taste, but the respondent may offer suggestions about texture, the type of can or bottle, mixing juices, or something related to use as a mixer or in recipes.

Forcing answers
Respondents may not want, or may not be able to provide the information requested. Privacy is an important issue to most people. Questions about income, occupation, finances, family life, personal hygiene and beliefs (personal, political, religious) can be too intrusive and rejected by the respondent.

Non-exhaustive listings
Do you have all of the options covered? If you are unsure, conduct a pretest using the "Other (please specify) __________" option. Then revise the question making sure that you cover at least 90% of the respondent answers.

Unbalanced listings
Unbalanced scales may be appropriate for some situations and biased in others. When measuring alcohol consumption patterns, One study used a quantity scale that made the heavy drinker appear in the middle of the scale with the polar ends reflecting no consumption and an impossible amount to consume. However, we expect all hospitals to offer good care and may use a scale of excellent, very good, good, fair. We do not expect poor care.

Double barreled questions
What is the fastest and most convenient Internet service for you? The fastest is certainly not the most economical. Two questions should be asked.

Dichotomous questions
Make sure answers are independent. For example the question "Do you think basketball players as being independent agents or as employees of their team?" Some believe that yes, they are both.

Long questions
Multiple choice questions are the longest and most complex. Free text answers are the shortest and easiest to answer. When you Increase the length of questions and surveys, you decrease the chance of receiving a completed response.

Questions on future intentions.
Yogi Berra once said that making predictions is difficult, especially when they are about the future. Predictions are rarely accurate more than a few weeks or in some case months ahead.